“K” Line Secures Long-Term Charter Contracts with Northern Lights Carbon Capture Project

Updated: December 6, 2023 (Originally published December 20, 2022)

Japanese shipping company “K” LINE has announced long-term charter contracts for two liquefied CO2 vessels to support the world’s first industrial-scale carbon capture and storage project.

The contracts were signed with the Northern Lights joint venture, which is developing the project, and cover the bare boat charter and time charter of two 7,500 cbm liquified CO2 ships on order with delivery planned in 2024.

The London-based subsidiary “K” LINE LNG Shipping (UK) Ltd. will undertake the management of two ships. They will be tasked with transporting liquefied CO2 from industrial emitters, including the Norcem Brevik and Hafslund Oslo Celsio carbon capture facilities, to the Northern Lights CO2 receiving terminal in Øygarden, Norway.

The Northern Lights JV, which is made up of Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies, ordered the ships from China’s Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co. in October.

The 130-meter-long vessels will come with 7,500 m3 of cargo capacity and be specially designed to transport liquid CO2 with purpose-built pressurized cargo tanks. The ships will feature a number of green technologies, including a dual-fuel LNG and wind-assisted propulsion system, in the form of rotor sails, and air lubrication. They will also be registered in Norway (NOR), operated by Northern Lights under Norwegian flag, and classed by DNV.

For the carbon capture and storage project, Northern Lights is in the process of developing the infrastructure to transport CO2 from European industrial emitters by ship to a receiving terminal in western Norway for intermediate storage, then transported by pipeline for permanent storage in a geological reservoir 2,600 meters under the seabed. Operations are scheduled to start in 2024.

“We are honoured to participate in the Northern Lights project and contribute to the decarbonization of industry. We have been able to develop a new field by making use of our decades of know-how in liquefied gas transport,” said Yukikazu Myochin, President and CEO of “K” LINE.

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